


Return to Pegasus

by Vanadis (VanadisV)



Series: Forty Eight Thousand Years [13]
Category: Stargate - All Media Types, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Angst, Background Slash, Banter, Canon-Typical Violence, Death, Drama, Drama & Romance, Established Relationship, Family, Family Dynamics, Grief/Mourning, Loss, Lost Love, Love, M/M, Mission Fic, Pegasus Galaxy, Post-Canon, Rescue, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Secret Relationship, Self-Sacrifice, Sexual Content, Soulmates, Stargate, Team, Team as Family, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-19 07:26:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11892876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanadisV/pseuds/Vanadis
Summary: .When the team returns to the Pegasus galaxy, they find an expected foe. One that may take John from Rodney forever..





	1. The mission to Pegasus brings a new foe

**Author's Note:**

> .  
> .  
>  ** _No Canon required (Post Canon):_** _This series was written to be more accessible to those not familiar with the fandom, however this fic is less of a stand alone piece for those who did not watch the show. Those who have read the previous sections of the story will get all the references to the Post-Canon world I've created as well as the loose ends which were unresolved at the end of the series (um, Pegasus?). But at its core this is a mission adventure driven by the emotion of the John and Rodney romance._  
> .  
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> .  
>  _Things begin to go awry for the team when Todd changes the terms of their deal.  
> ._

.  
. 

The mission back to Pegasus brought conflicting feelings for Ronon. After the Wraith destroyed his people, he vowed to spend his life avenging them. He had just never imagined having any other kind of life worth living for -his wife Jennifer, and Ara his 4 month old daughter. A more primal part of himself felt the need to stay with them, to be by their side and protect them. But Jennifer had urged him to go and get closure, reminding him that she and Ara would have Jeanie, Kaleb, Kannan, and Dave all looking after them at Solaris. And so that had been it. He’d be joining Teyla and the others, finally bringing an end to the Wraith… well, almost.

 

For a while the IOA had argued that they didn’t want the trial run of Rodney’s new ship to involve travelling so far out of the Milky Way, all the way back to the Pegasus galaxy. Woolsey still thinks it’s too risky without backup, since it will take 3 weeks for one of the Daedalus class ships to be in range if a rescue is needed. Not that the SGC is willing to send one of their ships with them. In the end, it had been Dave's clout with the IOA that forced the issue and let them go. 

 

But even if they hadn’t been given the go ahead, Ronon knows they would had left anyway. From the moment Carson had perfected his retrovirus treatment, John and the others were adamant that they had no choice but to return. They would find a way back to Pegasus, to end the Wraith and aid the Hoffan plague with the new airborne antidote Jennifer perfected. 

 

As he looks up from the briefing room table, Ronon scowls thinking of Todd. Woolsey is yammering on about something, still trying to convince John that he should take Lorne’s team as backup. 

 

There is a moment of quiet tension in the room before John continues explaining to Woolsey why a crew of eight will be sufficient. No one else has training on Rodney’s new ship design. John, Rodney and Vala are all capable of flying the craft home… And the rest of them, he, Teyla, Daniel, and Carson have been trained on its other operational systems. That makes seven.

 

"And Todd?" Woolsey gives John a sour look. 

 

"He knows Wraith tech better than any of us." John shrugs.

 

Ronon can’t understand why John wants to set him loose again, Todd has turned on them every chance he’s had. They want to use Todd to spread Carson’s new retrovirus developed from the altered DNA after being fed upon by that Iratus Queen bug thing. And it has something do with the Wraith enzyme Michael created for his clones. Ronon wasn’t really paying attention to the part about how they got the retrovirus to work. As long as it really does work and keeps the Wraith from being able to feed on humans, that’s all that matters.

 

Still, they can do it without Todd, by injecting that stuff into the ship hulls that will integrate with the Wraith biology. Since they can track the Hive ships, Carson says it shouldn't take long. But they still want Todd in case they need him to convince Hives they can’t hit directly with the retrovirus to take the treatment voluntarily. 

 

Ronon knows one thing for sure, never trust a Wraith. Even if the thing has a working digestive system and no feeding hand, it’s still a Wraith. They just need to make sure to track down all the Hive ships themselves, it’s the only way to be sure. He plans to be watching Todd’s every move. If he gets out of line, even for a moment, Ronon's pulse rifle will end him; they don't need him to complete the mission.

 

“Well, regardless of how effective these treatments are, I still expect you all back in 3 weeks time.” Woolsey makes a tight grimace, “WE need that PUD back here to help us in the Milky Way. The chair defense platform needs more ZPM’s and this parallel drive is our best chance of finding them.”

 

Ronon snorts audibly. Funny how they’ve changed their tune about the drive now that Rodney’s managed to develop a working prototype. Realizing that Woolsey is eyeing him sharply Ronon shifts his gaze ambivalently to the floor, saying nothing. He knows they all plan on staying in Pegasus longer than three weeks, as long as it takes. But he doesn’t want to give anything away by acting like they don’t care what Woolsey has to say about it. Even though they don’t. 

.  
.

* * *

.  
. 

 

Carson is sure John had something to do with the retro Sci-Fi look of this ship; the design is much different than the simple functional SGC ships. Folding his arms, Carson stands to the side of the bridge a bit uncomfortable with the duty assigned to him, watching Todd. Fortunately Ronan always seems to be nearby glaring with his hand resting eagerly on his pulse rifle.

 

"Excited to be returning home?" Carson asks Todd nervously.

 

Todd merely growls in response. Right. Probably a wee bit grouchy about all the time he’s spent in captivity on Earth. Clearing his throat, Carson looks back to his teammates on the bridge. 

 

Rodney is busying himself taking readings and tracking ships systems. "Everything is in the green. Drive is ready to power up."

 

"You sure about that, McKay?" John smirks.

 

"As long as you can figure out how to turn the thing on, Colonel" Rodney retorts.

 

Vala and Ronon exchange an amused look from their seats at weapons control while Rodney stoops over Daniel's shoulder at navigation, "Okay, activate the cloak." 

 

Daniel hits some switches on the retro-looking console. "Cloak activated." 

 

"Control, this is Sheppard. we are go for takeoff."

 

"Copy, Sheppard. Magellan is a go."

 

The engine comes online with a whirr, and Carson grips the console near him nervously. He knows Rodney has been working out the kinks in this drive for a while, but he can't help but hold his breath as the ship lifts out of the top of the open hanger. 

 

He doesn't feel any change in momentum as he watches the Bay Area peninsula quickly drop away from them and fade into a brown speck. Wisps of clouds flit around them and then the view becomes obscured by larger white swirls drifting in the upper atmosphere. The planet looks so peaceful from up here; a perfect blue orb covered in swaths of white. 

 

John's voice breaks through his thoughts. "Daniel, we can drop the cloak and activate shields." 

 

"Okay." Rodney hurries to John's side, "Wait-wait-wait. Let me just check before we tap directly into that subspace energy... Yeah-yeah-okay. Everything is still in the green."

 

"Pegasus, here we come." John grins back at the crew lifting his hand over a large button on his controls.

 

"WAIT!" Rodney cries out, "Wait-wait-wait!" 

 

"What is it?!" John's hand freezes.

 

"I-I just wanted to press the button."

 

"By all means, Rodney. Don't let me stop you." John laughs and shakes his head.

 

"Ah, Pegasus..." Rodney takes a deep breath and raises his hand over the button looking pleased, "It's a journey we've... Well, after all this time..."

 

"Rodney." John groans impatiently.

 

"Right." Rodney lowers his hand.

 

The light bends around them in green arcs, spiraling tunnels that bend around them endlessly. It seems different than how Carson remembered it, maybe bigger, a bigger wormhole to fit the size of the ship. He inches closer to the front view panels, mesmerized by the bands of lights that make his head dizzy. 

 

And then as suddenly as it started, the wormhole disappears. Nothing but clear dark space in front of them.

 

"We're on target," Daniel updates them, "in the Lantean solar system. I'm picking up 3 Hive ships on long range sensors... A quick jump will put us right on top of one of them."

 

"You are sure that this will not harm them?" Todd glowers at Carson.

 

Gulping anxiously, Carson explains, "Well, as sure as I possibly can be. I've been working on it for years, you've seen the results yourself..."

 

Todd snarls but stays silent as the crew readies the ship to jump. With barely a moment to adjust to the new bearing in space, the ship is wrapped in the twisting green arms of the wormhole again. And then they are within range of one of those massive scary Wraith ships. 

 

"It's coming towards us!" Carson announces hurridly.

 

"That's okay, we’re cloaked." John's voice is calm, "They're just coming to investigate the anomaly. We're moving too and they can't see us."

 

Rodney chimes in, "Carson, they have no way of knowing that we can open wormholes without a gate. And wormholes do occasionally open and close at random."

 

"Right." Carson's voice is tight as the massive structure comes closer and closer.

 

"I'm almost lined up with the target area. Ronon, you ready to deploy a canister?" John asks.

 

"Ready whenever you are." He replies.

 

"I just want to get as close as possible so they don't detect anything breaching the hull, we gotta get this stuff absorbed into the organics of the ship and reproducing it for us", John pauses, "Okay almost there... Ready on my mark. Three, two, one, mark."

 

"So far so good," Rodney paces, "Not detecting anything from the ship..."

 

"It's going to be a day or so before they experience any changes, let's cross the next one off the list." John suggests, "...Unless, Teyla? Do you detect a Queen here?"

 

"No, John." Teyla shakes her head.

 

"Okay, lets get moving"

 

"There are not as many Hive ships as there once were." Todd says ruefully, "Michael and the Replicators greatly diminished our numbers. We must find a Queen to unite the fragmented Hives." 

 

"Aye." Carson admits, "That will be the tricky part. Getting close enough to a Queen to deliver a large enough dose in person. I'm sure we'll find one though."

 

John takes the ship far enough away from the Hive to open another wormhole without being detected. The next hit goes smoothly, much like the original and the search and deploy pattern becomes methodical. 

 

By the end of the day, they have hit 9 ships, but none of them with a Queen on board. In order for them all to get some rest, John hides the cloaked ship in the orbit of a ruined moon. Tomorrow they will check the progress of the infected ships and attempt to find more.

 

After a week they have infected a total of 42 ships. John lets Todd go to make contact with some of the transformed Hives; he reports back that he has been able to form a small alliance. But Todd is very disturbed by the discovery that their remaining Queens are missing, said to have been taken captive by an unknown enemy. 

 

No one knows who is taking them or where they have gone. Just that they kept disappearing. Todd tells them they will be lucky to find another 50 Hives left in the Galaxy. Then he parts ways again with the Magellan to help his people build a new life and search for a Queen. 

 

With the delivery of the Wraith cure looking successful, Carson takes a Jumper with Teyla to go administer his Hoffan vaccine to some of the hardest hit worlds. 

.  
.

* * *

.  
. 

Rodney is pleased with how well the mission has gone, they should be able to write the Wraith off as predators forever and return home. Today they got another 3 Hives. By Todd's estimation they should have gotten them all. While there may be a few stragglers out there, those who have turned have joined with Todd. And Todd now has the means to transform any others. Meanwhile, Carson's work is taking longer to than expected. He wants to stay behind for a while longer to teach more people how to reproduce the cure to the Hoffan plague.

 

"Ah, Rodney, looks like we got a little problem here." John says tersely.

 

Turning toward the front of the craft, Rodney's mouth falls open in shock, "Ah..." 

 

He tries to count how many Hive ships exactly are converging on them. Maybe all of them?

 

"Yeah, just a Wraith Armada of biblical proportions." John says tightly.

 

Todd's voice comes over the com, "John Sheppard." 

 

"Hey, Todd. Thought we were allies there for a minute."

 

"We still are. As long as you hold up your end of the bargain and heal my people."

 

"I thought that's what we were doing." John says skeptically.

 

"We will die. We cannot reproduce without our Queens. And they have been taken captive. You must treat them as you promised. Only then will we leave as allies."

 

"A rescue mission wasn't part of the deal," John argues, "you find your Queens and we'll treat them." 

 

"We have already located them with the help of your friends Beckett and Teyla." Todd growls.

 

John's eyes flash with anger, "Taking _my_ people captive is not the act of an ally, it is an act of war."

 

"Are you really prepared to go to war with me now with one spaceship, John Sheppard? I know you better than that."

 

"You let them go and I will consider helping you."

 

"No harm will come to them" Todd croons, "I am simply being a good host."

 

"By threatening them."

 

"By... motivating you to help us. We will all go to this Tempest planet together, but our ships cannot land there, the electromagnetic disturbance is too great."

 

"Then why would our ship be any different?"

 

"John Sheppard will find a way."

 

"He means Rodney McKay will find a way." Rodney snipes bitterly.

 

"Bring me my Queens and we part friends." Todd commands.

 

"Hardly." John cuts off the com in anger. 

 

"Should have killed the bastard when I had a chance." Ronon growls, "So, what are we going to do?" 

 

John shakes his head thinking, "For the moment we follow them to the planet. Assess the risk and come up with a few contingency plans."

 

The Magellan reaches the coordinates before the other ships arrive, giving Rodney time to take a variety of readings from orbit.

 

"The good news is I think our power source is going to make it possible to land on the surface of the planet. The bad news is, I don't have a way to plot any kind of course. Well, short of heading for a visual target but visibility is marginal. The interference makes a search pattern next to impossible. I would be choosing a location at random, and if I had to land again, I have no way to guarantee would be anywhere near the original site."

 

"So we only land once and leave." John says stoically.

 

"It is highly probable that these fluctuations are artificial," Rodney offers, "in which case we may be able to turn them off, but I have no way to pinpoint where they're coming from."

 

Todd comes in over the com with a simple, "John Sheppard."

 

"Listen," John opens a channel and tells him, "Here's the deal, if we find a way to land on the planet, all of us are going down, my people, your people -together. We bring the serums and look for the Queens as a team."

 

"What's to stop you from taking your people and leaving as soon as we arrive?"

 

"Well, if you don't trust us after all this, then trust your guns to fire at us before we can activate the wormhole drive. Bring Teyla and Beckett on board or no one is going anywhere."

 

"Very well. John Sheppard. I will trust you."

 

John fumes around the bridge with a glare on his face until Daniel reports they have a Dart and a Jumper ready for landing in the hanger bay.

 

"Open it." John's face is impassive.

 

Todd and six Wraiths shorlty join them on the bridge along with Teyla and Beckett. 

 

"You okay?" John lifts his chin at them.

 

"I am well, John" Telya nods.

 

Carson simply nods at him. 

 

"Then it looks like we're going down." John's lips pinch together, "Teyla, I think you should take the controls."

 

"I barely know how to fly it..."

 

"But you can sense the Queens, maybe you can lead us nearby, our sensors are worthless."

 

"I am willing to try." She agrees.

 

"I'll be right here in the copilot seat if you need me to take over." John assures her.

 

Rodney glares at Todd as the ship makes a slow descent down into the planet's atmosphere. There is no gentle glide down. In fact it seems like Teyla is veering chaotically around the planet looking for a better reading.

 

Suddenly, the craft lowers straight down with a shudder. The feet barely extend in time as the engines shut off, and they all fall an abrupt few inches as the ship goes silent.

 

"Here... It's the closest I can get." Teyla tells them. "They are weak, but still alive. I sense five of them." 

 

"Yesss" Todd hisses.

 

"Doc," John turns to Carson, “you still got those vitamin shots?"

 

"Ready to go." Carson pats his bag.

 

"All right," John shoots Todd a resentful look, "Let's get out there and see what we find." 

 

Rodney notices that Ronon looks especially lethal today, keeping his pulse rifle ready to shoot at the Wraith at a moment’s notice. 

 

The landscape outside is bizarre, like nothing Rodney has ever seen before. The orange streaked clouds hang low over the flat plains. There are volcanic looking stretches, then pockets of trees that almost look like cultivated orchards in the distance. Sand winds around strange stone pillars and structures. Rodney has to watch his step as there are strange bubbling red pools that interspersed the smooth earth. 

 

He checks his readings and announces, "We've got caves about 50 meters to the north." The group follows his lead until there are close. 

 

"Let me take a look around first." John stops them, "This could be a trap." 

 

Rodney lifts his fist, giving a military full stop move. That makes John smiles at least, he grabs Rodney's hand down and shakes it playfully, "Just wait here, Mere."

 

John takes Ronon and Vala with him to clear the caves. Rodney huddles closer to Daniel, Teyla, and Carson. He eyes Todd and his Wraith with suspicion. The guy seems as remorseless as ever at double-crossing them.

 

The sound of an explosion booms from the caves and Rodney starts.

 

"Carson we got 'em, come in here with those shots." John yells.

 

Rodney and Todd follow close on his heals. John and Vala have blown away some stone structures at the entrance. Inside, the cave houses five queens all looking sickly and malnourished, too weak to break free of the strange bindings that hold them in place. There are dead bodies in there with them, human and Wraith alike, but they have not been fed upon. Serpentine blue tubes are connected to their arms, feeding up into the stone ceiling above. The ceiling… Rodney squints at the the crystalline structures growing out of the top. Oh God. Just like the ones that infected them all with nightmares.

 

“Sheppard?” Rodney nods his head up to the cave ceiling.

 

John frowns in recognition, pointing his gun up, “Carson we gotta go.”

 

“Right.” Carson shifts his eyes apprehensively to the ceiling and back down to the Queens as he readies his doses, “Let me just get these taken care of.”

 

"My Queens, we are here to serve you." Todd kneels and begins to free them as Carson administers the retrovirus. 

 

"Get us out of here,” One of them hisses, “they are killing us!"

 

Todd immediately takes the Queen in his arms and carries her out of the cave. The other Wraith follow suit, lifting the others to safety.

 

"Stay away from the crystals... Todd’s Queen orders, “They will infect you."

 

"We are very close to the ship, you shall be free." Todd tells her as they near the vessel.

 

"Whoa, whoa." John slows the group down before they enter the ship, "What do you mean infected?"

 

“It is how they feed.” The Queen's haughty eyes are dull and dark, "We are only alive because we are... so strong. The others die and the entities return to us until they bring more hosts.”

 

“They?” Rodney asks in alarm, “Who’s _they_?”

 

"You came into contact with those crystal structures?" Carson asks. 

 

“Yesss” another Queen rasps.

 

"Okay, we need to establish a quarantine right now." Carson waves his hand at the group of Wraith and backs away from Rodney and the others.

 

“Wait-“ Rodney feels short of breath with fear, “who’s bringing the-the hosts-”

 

“Rodney!” Carson cuts him off, “Get the other medical equiptment, the defibulators and hazmat suits from the ship.”

 

“Yeah-yeah-yeah. How do we know it’ll even work on them?”

 

John’s voice brings him back from his rising panic, “Rodney.” 

 

Translation: _Stay calm. Let’s do this as fast as we can and get the hell out of here._

 

“Right.” Rodney mutters as he and Teyla go retrieve the electrical paddles, quarantine and medical gear. When he returns Carson is standing with the group of infected Wraith, away from the bubbling pools and stone pillars by the ship. 

 

The group of infected wait in a patch of open sand while Teyla and Daniel don hazmet suits and treat Carson first by stopping his heart with the electrical current. Rodney chews his nail anxiously while he watches Teyla revive him. She’s probably the best trained among them to do this, other than Carson himself. 

 

He exhales with relief as Carson's vitals tick back and he sits back up. 

 

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Carson gestures the rest of them back towards the stone pillars as he pulls a hazmat suit on himself, "You all just stay clear while I take care of this." 

 

Rodney peers at the stone constructs. They are curious structures; some of them have red pools of lava bubbling at their bases. The pools occasionally emit bubbles of air, but Rodney does not sense as much ambient heat as he would expect from molten rock. It is as if a demented Zen gardener designed this planet, a gardener Rodney is not eager to meet. The sooner they get out of here the better. 

 

Carson is making progress, shocking the Wraith at least to a state of unconsciousness with the defibulators. Strange blue arcs fizzle out of their chests and disappear into the air. Rodney looks at his feet on the sand. Without any conductive material the entities should not be able to move between hosts. 

 

One of the Queens becomes uncharacteristically fearful, watching the others being cured. She whimpers as she watches what is in store for her. Carson saves her for last, and tries to reassure her that the pain will be temporary, that she won't be sick anymore.

 

Before Carson can reach her, she leaps to her feet, "No! No one will touch me." She runs toward the ship stumbling into John. He catches her before she falls into a nearby lava pool.

 

"Don't move" he tells her with his legs perched on either side of the pool, leaning back into a stone pillar for support.

 

The Queen kicks and screams, "Let me go!" But John holds the sickly Queen from falling into the strange pool.

 

"John!!" Rodney sees something moving out of the rock behind him. John sees it too now, like stone branches unfolding.

 

"AAAAHHH!!!" Too late, John screams as one of them punctures through his chest. Others are grabbing his arms and legs. They twist around him and into the screaming Queen, pulling her down into the red substance. 

 

As Rodney, Ronon, and Vala race in to help him, John manages to pull out his gun from amidst the tangle of moving stone, "NO! –stay back! That's an order!" he screams at them.

 

Rodney watches in horror as the branch-like things drag the Queen into the lava pool, she is really shrieking now, a shrill piercing wail as her body begins to disintegrate in the lava. Rodney pulls his gun and shoots one of the branches. It shatters, but the others pull John closer into the pool. Ronon is shooting at them too, but they are regrowing.

 

“I said get back!” John yells, he fires a spray of bullets around their feet to keep them from coming closer. 

 

No. It has him. Oh God. His foot is starting to-

 

John makes a low wail as his foot sinks into the molten lava. His body is shaking, jaw clenching, he can still aim with the bead of sweat running into his eyes. 

 

Unable to do anything else, he fires again around the base of the pool with his free arm to keep his team from getting closer, "GO! I'm already dead! Please... GO!"

 

What is left of the Queen, a cinder husk of an arm, sinks under the lava. John is barely alive and gasping. He is in so much pain, his legs have deeply sunken in the pool and the stone arms are pulling him under. As the lava hits his chest he sputters a final few breaths and his eyes go dead.

 

Rodney tries to go to him, but Ronon holds him back. 

 

He fights in vain, "No-no-no-no-no... NO! We have to help him. Damn it let me go!"

 

As the rest of John's body is pulled into the red molten liquid, Todd sighs sadly, "John Sheppard. Your death will be honored."

 

Teyla barks at them, "We need to leave this place. John would want us to go, NOW!"

 

Ronon drags Rodney all the way back to the ship despite his struggles. 

 

Rodney decides he has always hated Ronan... until he sees the tears in Ronon's eyes. 

 

Finally inside the ship, Rodney's body goes slack against him, "You can let me go now. I'd just like to go to my quarters."

 

I'm so sorry, Rodney" Ronon husks as he releases him.

 

"Yeah." Rodney stares blankly. 

 

Once Ronon is gone, Rodney rushes to get extra rations and supplies from his room. He grabs some of John's things from his side of the room and then stoops, pulling out John's dog tags. The real ones that he wanted Rodney to have. 

 

Tears cloud his eyes and he almost collapses with the weight of his sorrow. But he doesn't have much time. He has to make it to one of the Jumpers before they take off. 

 

Once inside the Jumper, he quickly executes a program disabling his transponder, and remotely opens the hanger door without alerting the ships sensors. It closes again just in time for take-off. 

 

After Todd gets his Queens aboard the Hive, the Magellan should be back on Earth in a matter of minutes. Rodney's heart sinks when he thinks of Dave. He should be there for Dave, to explain. But he isn't going back. He would rather die here with John. Jeanie will be hurt too, but she has her family, she will survive...

 

He can't accept the idea that John is really gone. He’d rather look for answers, nurse the insane hope –and he knows it is insane, that something of John is left, maybe lost here somewhere. If not his body, maybe a kind of shadow or spirit. Even though Rodney doesn’t believe in that kind of thing, it’s all he has now.

 

Nothing matters anymore without John, it's all meaningless. He would rather spend the last of his days understanding John's death then try to live a life without him.

.  
.  
.  
.


	2. He stays behind at John's grave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> .  
>  _Rodney searches the planet for answers about what happened to John. The rest of the team returns to search for Rodney, hoping he is still alive.  
> ._

.  
.

Ronan waits patiently by Rodney's door. It has been hours since they got back and Rodney has refused to come out or even respond. He simply stays silent, locked in his room. Finally, Ronan hears a noise but he realizes it is just someone in the hanger coming into the ship.

 

Leaning his head against the metal door, Ronan sighs, "I'm not leaving till you come out, Rodney."

 

The sound of footsteps clink against the metal flooring and Ronan looks up to see Dave.  
By the haunted look on his face Ronan can see that he has already been told. 

 

"Dave..." Ronan tries to think of words that would be adequate, but nothing was enough. "I tried to get to John... We all tried..." 

 

"Where's Rodney?" Dave's lips are pressed pencil thin and his face sheet white.

 

"He locked himself in here and won't come out."

 

"Rodney!" Dave knocks on the door, "It's Dave. I need to talk to you..." 

 

Dave's shoulders slumped forward against the door, "Please, Rodney, I can't do this alone. I need you to be my brother..." 

 

After another silent moment, Dave asks again, this time his voice breaking with sorrow, "Please? Please, Rodney?"

 

But Rodney gives no sign that he can hear them and finally Dave calls a technician down to cut through the door from the outside. 

 

As a metal hunk falls to floor and Ronan reaches into through to hole to open the door from the inside, he and Dave stare in shock at an empty room. 

 

"Where is he?" Dave slumps with his head in his shaking hands.

 

Ronan swallows his guilt, "I had to drag him back to the ship. He didn't want to leave. I didn't realize... He must have..." Ronan turns in alarm, "We have to check the Jumper bay."

 

When Ronan sees the missing Jumper his chest sinks. He has failed twice over. Rodney is not on the ship, he never made it back to Earth. But at least Rodney will have shelter, and maybe a way off the Tempest planet.

 

Reaching for Dave, Ronan places a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "This is good. It means he might still be alive."

 

"Good?" Dave's face reflects nothing but horror, "No. My brother's dead. Rodney's gone. We should never have gone back to Pegasus. I made it happen, this is my fault."

 

Shaking Dave by the shoulders, Ronan tried to set him straight, "We face danger and possible death on almost every mission. No one ever knows beforehand which missions are going to go bad. It's not your fault Dave, you weren't even there."

 

Dave stares blankly and shakes his head in despair, backing away from Ronan. "I, I, the IOA report..." He stumbles out of the ship, leaving Ronan alone with his guilt and lost honor. 

 

Everything with John had happened so fast, but Ronan should have at least been able to protect Rodney from himself. He has failed them both.

 

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* * *

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. 

Rodney spends much of the first day staring at place John died. He feels frozen in the moment, screaming inside and still trying to get to him in time. 

 

He sits out of reach from any danger that might draw him in from the stone pillar. When he gets too close, those strange growths start to come out of the rock face. He bows his head into the sand, grieving silently. He still has his ring, his promise to follow John beyond this life. Where has he gone now? How can follow him? 

 

Rodney grasps the sand in his palms, digs his nails into it bitterly, "John, where are you?... I'm supposed to be with you..." He sobs into the dry sand, then sits up numbly watching it slip out of his fingers. 

 

Maybe testing the sand would be a good start. Yes. Yes, he can run tests on the soil and try to understand what is happening here. That doesn't sound too crazy... He collects some beakers hurries to some conducts some tests. He finds nothing but basic silica compounds, not that he was expecting much more. 

 

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* * *

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. 

"How the hell did this happen?" Woolsey slams his report down and glowers at the team assembled around the table. 

 

Carson looks at the shell shocked faces around him, Dave, Ronan, Teyla, Vala and Daniel. None of them look like they have any more idea of what to say than he does. 

 

Ronan speaks up, "We have to get back there right away before anything happens to Rodney."

 

"Back there!?" Woolsey's face goes red, "We had no business being there in the first place. And you can be sure that we are not going back until we understand what kind danger we face."

 

"But Rodney's out there." Carson squeaks, "On his own."

 

"The Daedalus is currently en route to the Pegasus, they can beam him out using his transmitter." 

 

"No, they can't." Ronan disagrees, "He shut it down somehow, otherwise we would have known that he wasn't on board."

 

Vala chimes in, "Also, the extreme electromagnetic disturbance on that planet makes it impossible to pinpoint anything. A ship like the Daedalus could never land. Even if they managed somehow, they would have no way of knowing where they were landing."

 

"Then explain to me then how the Magellan was able to manage it." Woolsey narrows his eyes.

 

"The size and power source of our engine made it more maneuverable on a smaller vessel" Daniel explains. "That and Teyla was able to navigate us towards… to sense the Queens." 

 

"Something I can't really duplicate now that they are gone." Teyla admits.

 

"Well, thank goodness the Queens made it out safely." Woolsey makes a face of distaste.

 

"I did manage to inoculate them all with the virus.” Carson tries to remind him of the good they did, “The Wraith threat all least has been destroyed."

 

"Yes, and that helps our galaxy, how exactly?" Woolsey seems unimpressed.

 

"They won't be trying to attack Earth any time soon?" Carson meekly suggests, "Also, the Hoffan cure was successful."

 

"Once again, congratulations on saving lives in another galaxy. I, however, am more concerned with the two we have just lost."

 

"But, Rodney isn't dead." Daniel reminds Woolsey.

 

"In all likelihood," Woolsey makes a bitter face, "by now, he probably is. I am not going to send you rushing headlong into danger uselessly, however valuable any team member may be."

 

Carson looks to Dave, sitting quietly staring at the table in front of him. He feels a rush of sympathy when he sees the lines of grief on his face. Dave might be the only one who could get Woolsey to see some sense. But Dave seems too lost and confused to fight for anything right now.

 

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* * *

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. 

 

After a few days, Rodney wanders in the direction of the caves. The stench of decaying flesh is almost enough to keep him from venturing in, but John's memory demands that he find answers. 

 

He covers his mouth and nose with one hand and shines small light at the end of his rifle around the chamber. The 'bars' that once held the prisoners in are stone and do not look like natural formations. He frowns at the bodies on the floor. They weren't killed by the Queens... Something else- 

 

A light fizzes on from the ceiling above him, and then another. Rodney stares up at the crystal formations. They are the same as the one John touched on that planet so many years ago. The one that ping-ponged terrifying nightmares around Atlantis, killing Heightmeyer and almost killing him. If it hadn't been for John- More lights buzz to life and Rodney sprints out of the cavern. 

 

He catches his breath with his hands on his knees once he is outside. He looks to the line of trees in the distance. Might as well check the area for water. He is going to need more soon if he is going to survive here long enough to solve the mystery. Trailing along the edge of the desert until he back to the Jumper, Rodney steps in the groves for the first time. Something has to be providing these trees with moisture. If he can just-

 

A buzzing sound crackles in the air just behind him. Rodney holds still, waiting, hoping it was just a trick of the mind. But another fizzles, awakened on the tree just ahead of him. And another. They are lighting up like Christmas trees all around him, just like the forest where they first encountered the crystals. 

 

Knowing they have the power to draw their victims in by effecting the visual cortex, Rodney blinks and looks to the ground below. If he keeps his eyes away, he should be able to avoid the compelling desire to touch one. 

 

Anyway, the soil is what he really needs to be concerned with. Rodney pulls out some of his sample containers. Pressing his finger to the ground, it feels dry. He takes a sample anyway. Then he finds a slope that veers slightly uphill. He tries to follow the line that leads to the lowlands, occasionally glancing back in the direction of the Jumper to keep his bearings. 

 

When Rodney sees a change in the soil, he stops to take another sample. Eventually, he comes across a small stream. He keeps his excitement in check as he takes a number of samples; it could just as easily be poison, nothing on this planet makes sense. 

 

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* * *

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. 

 

Daniel is relived that Dave has finally forced Woolsey's hand to send the Magellan on a rescue mission. But he is less sure about Dave's insistence that he accompany the team to search for Rodney. Dave's heart is in the right place but the last thing they need right now is to worry about babysitting someone with no field experience.

 

Their biggest problem through will be trying to locate Rodney on the planet. Even if by some miracle his transmitter is operational again, they will likely have to cover a lot of ground on foot. It has been hard enough losing John. He just hopes to God Rodney is still alive.

 

Not exactly knowing what to expect, Daniel packs a slew of Ancient gadgets, just in case something comes in handy. He is almost out the door when he thinks of the red egg. Oma had said there would come time to use it. Who knows, maybe this is it?

 

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* * *

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. 

 

Rodney's tests yield little to explain the ecology of the planet. The water is drinkable, not even any microbes are present. Everything here is sterile, very basic nitrates and compounds in the soil, as if they had been premixed with only the essentials to support the trees. He isn't sure if the crystals need the trees for some reason, since everything seems placed there by design. He can only surmise they provide a necessary function. 

 

As the weeks go by, Rodney eats his meager rations. Each time he sets aside a parcel for John. It makes him feel less alone. Like John's ghost is keeping him company… or like maybe John will appear hungery and grateful for something to eat. It's crazy but he talks to John now, as if he is here listening to the saga of the of... what did the Wraith call it? The Tempest Planet. 

 

Everyday he sits by John's grave, that bubbling circle of lava where he disappeared. That is when he lets himself cry, turns his brain off and feels the pain of his missing heart. It just doesn't make sense why he had to die. It was so senseless... 

 

"Em. I'm still here. I'm lost without you. If you can hear me somehow, wait for me. I'll find you, wherever you gone. I won't last much longer."

 

Rodney twirls his ring, "You know" his voice wavers and hot tears fall into the sand beneath him, leaving small holes as they sink into the soil.

 

"I-I was really looking forward to -to our first anniversary." He sniffs and wipes his face on his sleeve, "It's today, remember? The 16th... It's selfish, I know... I just thought we'd have so much more time." 

 

"But for all the time we did have…" Rodney leans forward in grief, "You. Made. Everything... Everything wonderful. Only. Y-you. You were everything in my world..." 

 

He clutches the dogs from his chest. "And I won't leave you here alone. I won't ever leave you."

 

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* * *

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. 

 

Ronan is frustrated. Their search for Rodney keeps coming up empty handed. Everywhere they go, everything looks the same. Groves of trees with crystals on them. Sandy desert patches of desert with symmetrical lava sinks. But they steer clear of the rock formations, avoid the crystals, and no one gets hurt.

 

They stumble across several body dump sites. Mostly human cadavers. The cause of death is not obvious but Carson is running tests on one of the corpses, maybe that will help them find some answers. Until then, the Magellan continues the search, combing the surface of the planet. Maybe making progress, maybe just retracing their footsteps. There is no way to be sure.

 

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* * *

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. 

 

Rodney finds another cave structure on his wanderings, no bars or crystals this time, but filled with bodies. They seem to have died recently, the smell is minimal. Then he hears someone moaning, a woman. And he pushes forward into the darkness.

 

"Hello? Is someone alive in here?"

 

A weak voice calls out, "Please. Help me." 

 

He follows the sounds of her cries and finds a skeletal woman barely able to hold her head up. He carries her back to the Jumper, to give her fluids and food, though he knows he has contaminated himself in the process. He doesn’t much care anymore.

 

"They feed on us." She has such a terrified look about her, "The fear, the fear is everywhere." 

 

"It's okay, you're safe now." Rodney tries to tell her.

 

"No, no, no. I'm going to die like the others. Have you seen the blue ones yet?" She asks in horror.

 

Rodney shakes his head.

 

"They have, ah, ah, blue bodies, clear, blue, you can see through them. But you can't kill them... it's like liquid stone. And they're growing more of them, you know? That's why they need us." 

 

She points to the bruised and infected hole in her arm where Rodney had pulled a crude shunt out. "To feed their nurseries, the crystals. The little ones make the big ones. But they have to feed first." The woman's eyes had roll back and her head lolls to the side with the effort of speaking.

 

"It's okay, okay, just save your strength." Rodney says trying to sound confident.

 

"No" she gasps, "I'm dying… too late. You should leave this place. Save yourself."

 

Rodney holds her hand to comfort her; she does look like she is about the pass away, "I can't go." He tells her, "I think I need to die here, too."

 

"You don't want to die like this.” She wheezes, “It's the worst terror, unending terror. Don't let the blue ones take you."

 

"Where do they take you?" Rodney whispers.

 

"Underground first. The ones that live longer, they took us up again, to feed another batch. But mostly underground. That's where the blue ones are. They give you nightmares. Sleeping, waking, it doesn't matter. The worst things you can think of..."

 

"How long have you been here?" Rodney asks, shivering a bit.

 

"So long..." The woman's body shakes, “They feed us this liquid, just enough to stay alive, but it's not living... living hell..."

 

The woman's body shudders violently. Rodney holds her and tries to calm her frayed nerves, but her body is seized by a series of tremors. When she goes still, she is no longer breathing. He tries to resuscitate her but she is gone. 

 

He buries the woman's body in the sand and returns to the Jumper giving some thought to his own life. He is infected now after touching her. Methodically, he goes about setting up the electric charge paddles, to stop his heart, timing them to automatically revive him. If it doesn't work, he won't mind much. If he dies, he will be a step closer to John. 

 

Rodney comes to suddenly from the electric current on his chest, coughing and gasping for air. He is alive. Clinging to one of John's black shirts, he curls around it in a tight ball until he falls asleep on the floor of the Jumper.

 

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* * *

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. 

 

After a month of fruitless searching, Daniel comes up with an idea. Admittedly a little crazy, but they need whatever help they can get at this point.

 

"Wait, are these the same Asgard who kidnapped you and Rodney?" Carson exclaims.

 

"Yes," Daniel admits, "They aren't the warm and fuzzy kind we knew in the Milky Way, but if anyone has the technology or the experience to deal with this, it would be them. We have no idea what we're up against."

 

Dave assumes a leadership role, "How do propose to make contact with them without putting the ship at risk?"

 

"Yeaaah." Daniel answers slowly, "I don't have that part figured out yet. All I know are the planet conditions and general region of space. I think our scans could pick out a planet with such a corrosive atmosphere."

 

"Corrosive as in, not breathable?" Vala lifts her brows.

 

"No." Daniel admits, "But our shields could withstand the pressure long enough to send a signal. Explain the threat and hope for the best."

 

"Just how hostile are these guys?" Dave asks.

 

"Um, I doubt they would fire on us unless we were directly threatening them or standing in the way of something they wanted."

 

"They killed a few of our guys when they broke into Atlantis to steal some Ancient tech." Ronan reminds him.

 

"Yes," Teyla offers, "but after we shot at them at them. They had superior technology, and could have used it to do more damage to us. All they cared about was activating the Attero device as a means to destroy the Wraith.”

 

“Even it meant killing thousands of humans to do it.” Ronan reminds her gruffly.

 

“I think we can assume they care about their own safety, at least.” Daniel surmises, “Perhaps if we tell them we have neutralized the Wraith once and for all, they will be more interested in helping us. Hopefully?" Daniel shrugs, "What do we have to lose? –Other than being blown out of the sky, I mean."

 

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* * *

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Rodney rocks silently at the mouth of John's grave staring at the molten lava. He hasn't seen any other way underground in his searches of the area. His instrument readings reveal only rock formations and depressions, no technological data or indication of… But there has to be something he’s missed. An entrance to this underground area the woman spoke of… 

 

He picks up one of the broken shards of stone and sinks it halfway into the lava. Pulling it back up, the red liquid beads away and the stone looks unaffected. Tentatively, Rodney touches the rock with a finger and finds it cool to the touch. His wraps his entire hand around it now, there is no residual heat. Could this be an illusion? 

 

Steeling himself, he dips a fingertip into the edge. 

 

Screaming in pain, he reels back. "AHHH! AH!" 

 

Oh, God, that was real enough. Rodney cradles his wounded finger and returns to the Jumper to bandage it. Fuck. He can see part of the bone, his whole body is throbbing in pain. This is bad. An injury like this will probably kill him in few days without proper medical treatment. What ever he is going to do, he has to do it now.

 

There are painkillers in the medkit somewhere. Rodney pops a few in his mouth and chews them. He pockets the bottle. On second thought he grabs some stims as well, a few guns, a Wraith stunner... Where is his tablet? He just needs, he needs... 

 

Rodney feels drowsy. Is it the painkillers or the shock? He needs something else. There are some supplies under the bench seat in back. There is it is. A shovel. 

 

There is something unnatural about this. Destructive to organic tissue but not rock? Definitely not obeying the laws of physics. Rodney stumbles back to the grave, taking care to keep his distance from the column where the rock formations grow. While he still has the strength, he begins digging around the base of the lava hole, carving the sand away from the three sides of the base around the dangerous rock surface.

 

The edges of the lava hole are smooth black obsidian, cold to the touch. They follow a cylindrical shape further down into the ground. None of this makes sense... Rodney carefully moves around the edge of the stone pillar. The strange stone branches respond to his proximity and begin to twist out of the rock. 

 

But he stays out of reach and lifts the shovel to make contact with the back of the column. It clinks with the familiar sound of metal on stone. Biting his lip to clear his head of the pain, Rodney leaps to the wedge of sand between the back of the stone column and the rock face behind it. Holding his breath, he waits for attack by creepy rock creature. 

 

Nothing happens on this far side. He breaths a sigh of relief. The shovel is too wide to dig in this narrow wedge, so Rodney gets down on his knees and uses his good hand to scoop the sand away.

 

More obsidian... Rodney keeps digging, feeling frantic. There has to be something else. What are these things? They are all over the planet... But their primary purpose can't be simply to trap or kill. The design clearly is meant for something else... Rodney digs desperately throwing sand out from under him, making the trench deeper. Why did this thing take John? What was the point?!

 

As the clods of sands fly around him, Rodney suddenly spots a small blue nodule glowing just out of reach. He grabs furiously at the sand around it. Finally, something he can analyze. It is connected to a cord. If it can really be called a cord, it feels like stone, but it had a crystalline hue, glowing slightly blue. He keeps digging and follows the cord to the back of the lava pool next to him. 

 

He tries to get some energy readings from his pad, but there is too much interference. He runs back to the Jumper. Maybe some Ancient tech... some of the thread-like wires might be able to tap into those detailed points in to crystalline structure.

 

Rodney sets to work, attaching the threads to the crystalline nodes and directly into his tablet. It's not what he hoped for but he can see a lacework of the blue root system on his screen, a map fanning out in all directions. 

 

Good, but he needs more. Where is the hub? There has to be a way... Yes, yes, yes. Rodney adjusts the scope of his sensors. About 145 kilometers from here. If he can store the data, maybe he can fly to the Jumper there. Follow the landscape since navigation will be useless. 

 

Rodney traces a finger on his good hand over the slope of the land on his screen. The hub begins just at the foot of a small mountain range. An educated guess tells him there is a cave system there. 

 

Saving the visual landscape into his tablet, he returns to the Jumper. He changes into a thermal decontamination suit since he doesn't want to risk getting infected again. It is agony getting the glove onto his bad hand. 

 

It might not protect him entirely but it's better than nothing. He swallows a few more pain pills and pulls the Jumper up just enough to follow the curve of the landscape. After a few passes around, Rodney feels certain he has the right mountain. 

 

He lands a short way from the base and adds some C4 and hand grenades to his arsenal. He probably won't be coming back from this, whatever it is. But this planet is killing people. It killed John. He won't forgive it that.

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	3. Rodney makes a daring rescue possible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> .  
>  _The team seeks out an unlikely ally and realizes they are facing an old foe. Rodney sacrifices himself to take revenge for John.  
> ._

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Daniel is as surprised as Dave that the Asgard actually responded to their transmission. At first he hoped it was gratitude over eliminating the Wraith threat, but when moments after an Asgard is sent up from the surface, they are all unceremoniously beamed over to an Asgard warship.

 

From within their menacing red suits, the Asgard demand to know everything the humans had seen on the Tempest planet. Daniel does his best to explain the situation.

 

Once they hear the details, an Asgard tells them, "This threat must be eliminated before it spreads. We destroyed the Sekarri once before, but at great cost. They must not be allowed to mature."

 

"The Sekarri?" Daniel furrows his brows trying to remember what that Ancient temple had said about them. "Ah, they were once a threat, that the Four races defeated."

 

Teyla and Ronon exchange a look, "The Sekarri. Wasn't that the Artificial intelligence we helped all those years ago?" Teyla asks.

 

"You helped them?" The Asgard voice sounds menacing and metallic though its body armor.

 

Ronon looks sullen, "They said they were a peaceful silica based life form. We transported their ‘Arc’ to planet where they could revive their species.

 

"Then you are responsible for this." The tin voice answers, "You must help us destroy the planet before it spreads."

 

"The planet?" Daniel rears his head, "We still have a friend down there."

 

"Your friend is dead." The unsympathetic voice responds, "How any of you have been affected by dream disturbances and hallucinations?"

 

"No." Dave answers curtly, "What is this? What's going on?"

 

But the Asgard have little interest in answering questions, they insist on being given the coordinates to the 'Tempest planet' immediately, then beam the team back aboard their own ship. The Magellan arrives first with its nearly instantaneous wormhole and Daniel finds it disconcerting, that for once, the Asgard do not have the superior technology.

 

When the Asgard arrive, Daniel notices with some discomfort that they have a full complement of warships with them. Several Asgard beam into the bridge of the Magellan, this time without their red body armor.

 

One of them steps forward, addressing Daniel, "We must destroy as much of the planet as possible. What kind of weapons do have on board?"

 

"Wait, wait." Daniel lifts his hands diplomatically.

 

Dave interrupts, "We have weapons, but we need to get Rodn- our friend back first."

 

"You do not understand the danger you have unleashed." The Asgard says as if talking to a child.

 

"Then please," Daniel asks patiently, "Please explain it to us."

 

The Asgard murmur amount themselves in their indistinguishable tongue, their faces naturally expressionless and yet still somehow disapproving.

 

Finally, one speaks in English again, "The Sekarri life cycle is slow but once they have matured they are nearly indestructible. They begin in nurseries, suckling on plants until they are able to feed on bioelectric energy. Even at this stage they are lethal.

 

"What happens in the next stage?" Vala asks hesitantly

 

"They incubate in silica pools and emerge in a true physical form. As we said, nearly indestructible."

 

"Rodney said they showed him an image of their true form." Teyla turns to the Asgard, "Are they blue in color and appear slightly humanoid?"

 

The Asgard blinks its big black eyes, "For a time. But they are not as you or I, nor do they have biology or even respiration as we understand it. They grow in rock formations and are able to survive in the harshest of environments, even the vacuum of space. They absorb energy from destruction. Their swarms harvest entire solar systems and tear them apart. We must stop them while we still can."

 

Carson lifts a finger, "So, I take it a wee electric current won't be sufficient?"

 

Blinking again with expressionless eyes the Asgard continues, "Once they are mature they are impervious to most weapons. It was only by forming an accord with the other three races that we were able to stop the terrible destruction."

 

Curiosity gets the better of Daniel and he presses his luck by asking more questions, "So the four races... You guys joined forces before the Goa'uld, before the Wraith?"

 

"The Wraith were only a minor threat at the time, though they became more insidious. But the fight with the Sekarri took a toll on us all. Eventually, the Nox, a number of Asgard, and Furling fled to the Milky Way. The rest of the Furlings returned to a region of Andromeda known to us as the 4 galaxies. We remained, along with the Ancients, as the last line of defense. And we eventually succeeded by destroying the core of any planet they had entrenched. It was the only way."

 

Dave steps closer to the alien, "Before it gets to that, there's someone we have to save."

 

"You actually might have met him before", Daniel reminds them, "He and I actually both..." He trails off realizing the destruction of the Attero device may be a sore subject.

 

"You will not find him." The Asgard says plainly, "They will manipulate what you see, who see. They are capable of mimicking emotion and personalities. The man you seek is lost."

 

Carson turns to Daniel, "Actually, Dr. Keller described something of this mind control before" Addressing the Asgard, he continues, "We encountered them before on planet, with trees covered in these, these small crystals that were capable of manipulating the mind."

 

The Asgard exchange looks amongst themselves, then one of them asks, "Were any of you infected?"

 

"Yes," Ronon answers "But not for long. It jumped bodies. We used an electrical current to drive it out."

 

"They are weakest in that state." The Asgard gives a slight nod, "Particular kinds of electrical charges temporarily disrupt their hold over a victim's mind and can disable the entity from transferring between conscious. You may have found an abandoned nursery we overlooked. Once we destroy this planet, we must find this nursery and make sure a robotic intelligence was not left behind to tend to their development."

 

"So how do you kill them?" Ronon narrows his eyes.

 

"We have energy weapons. I do not know if they will be sufficient to fully break the core of the planet apart, but it will cause significant damage."

 

"Well, what did you use to kill them before?" Ronon persists.

 

"The Ancients used the red seed to bore into the molten core; it alone possessed the capacity to destroy the silica life in its base form. Combined with our firepower it was enough to crumble a planet to small pieces of dead rock."

 

"A red seed? Daniel asks suddenly curious about the device Oma activated, "What kind of a seed?"

 

"It does not matter. We no longer have this technology."

 

"Wait." Daniel lifts a finger "I may have something. Something from an Ancient lab. It was blue, but then it turned red. Maybe... maybe it is what you are looking for. But you have to wait to destroy the planet, long enough for us to search for our friend."

 

"If he is even alive, he will be infected. He will be a carrier. We cannot allow the Sekarri to escape. Nor can we risk landing on the planet. When the entities have gained enough energy, they can transfer to any object, mature, and reproduce in space."

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* * *

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Rodney stops in the mouth of the cave, recognizing the Sekarri device he had once rescued from the ocean floor. It is surrounded by tangle of blue cords and other metallic crystalline structures.

 

The form of a brunette human woman appears in front of him with a serene look on her face, "Dr. McKay. We did not expect to see you again."

 

"You... What are you doing here?" he demands.

 

The AI lifts her hands in the air and smiles, "Our race is being reborn. You have delivered us to our new home. So I shall spare you."

 

"From.... What exactly?" Rodney chest feels tight.

 

"From my children, my dear. They are out collecting more food, but they will return soon." She smiles, "In a way, you are their father."

 

"All the dead people. This is your doing." Anger grips him and Rodney feels sick, "You killed John!"

 

"I'm sorry.” The eyes of AI look compassionate, “He was... a threat."

 

Pulling the C4 from his vest in quick move, Rodney slaps it onto the machine, "So am I."

 

As he runs into one of the tunnels winding into the interior of the mountain, the AI calls after him "Rodney, this is foolish. This will not destroy me-"

 

As Rodney feels the blast wave of the C4 hit him from behind, he is thrown to the ground. He blinks to get his bearing; his eyes focus on his fallen tablet. It is blinking... The readings are... Rodney grabs it up off the ground.

 

John's transmitter. It's still active... it will lead him to John's body. It's coming from deep within a tunnel, coming from the other direction. Rodney's fingers race across his keypad, just in case. He activates his own transmitter just in case he makes it out of here and survives long enough for someone to come looking for him. Coughing in the dust of the recent explosion, he makes his way through the wreckage.

 

The brunette woman reappears, "My children see what I see and they are here."

 

A group of the blue Sekarri creatures are approaching and Rodney runs as fast as he can. But they are moving fast, too fast. They are almost upon him now. He turns are fires his gun into the closest three.

 

His mouth hangs open the bullets slide slowly though the translucent blue skin and fall out the other side without any damage. Rodney drops his guns and pulls the Wraith stunner off his shoulder. But his vision is obscured, suddenly he sees fire all around him, he feels his feet burning.

 

"AHHHH!" Rodney shoots the stunner in the direction of the Sekarri and the illusion of the fire disappears. The blue things look mildly stunned and he takes his opening to run further into the cavern. Which way now, which way? Rodney checks the tablet and turns into a new corridor with the Sekarri still close on his heels. He uses the corner to hide himself and shoots again several times into the passage.

 

Running as fast as he can, he doesn't wait to see if it worked. He passes chambers filed with wailing people. Moaning, lost in their hallucinations of terror, most of them are already dead. Where did John meet his end? Here it is. This one –this one.

 

How does he get inside? He should have saved the guns... No one is moving inside the chamber but –Rodney still has a grenade. If he could set if by the door and stand far away enough...

 

"Is anyone in there alive?" Rodney calls.

 

No one answers. He doesn't have much time; he has to do this now. Rodney pulls the pins and sets the grenade by the stone bars of the door. He waits down the hall with his fingers in his ears until he feels the blast wave and spray of pebbles hit his face. Then he races back to the cell, crawling over dead bodies, pulling them away from each other, looking for John's face but he isn't here.

 

"John..."

 

Looking back to his tablet, the signal indicates the far corner of the room. Rodney crawls to the side, lifting anonymous bodies in search of the one can't live without. He spies and SCG insignia poking through the folds dead flesh. With a sudden strength he pulls John out of the heap and hugs his lifeless form. "John... John... Oh, John."

 

The creatures are here, coming for him now. Rodney crouches over John and fires the stunner at them to keep them from entering the cell. They can't have John. They can't have him. The cell erupts again in fire, Rodney ignores the excruciating sensation of his flesh being burned away and keeps firing.  
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	4. You came back for me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> .  
>  _"You're welcome, it was a daring rescue."_  
> .

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Carson isn't sure he heard he right, "What did you say?!"

 

Teyla turns to the others in excitement, "Rodney's transponder is active, so is John's. I don't know why but we have started getting readings through the electrical haze down there."

 

"Rodney did this." Ronon growls happily

 

Dave steps up to the Asgard leader, "Here are our terms. You beam our friends up and then we deploy the weapon." He holds the red egg-like thing in his palm.

 

"They must be placed in seclusion in our ship and rid of the contagion."

 

"Just get them up here.” Dave shakes with tension. “Now!"

 

The Asgard communicates with his ship, then he turns to Dave, "It is done."

 

Ronon and Dave accompany Carson as he pilots the Jumper, down into the lower atmosphere of the Tempest planet. When they are as low as Carson thinks he can safely go, they release the back hatch and send red 'seed' tumbling down. Daniel had been specific about the low altitude deployment; Carson hopes it will be enough. Now he just has to get them far enough away from the planet before the red thing does whatever it is supposed to do.

 

The orange misty clouds of the planet still look calm as the Jumper climbs upwards out of the atmosphere. Beams of light begin to reign down on the planet from the Asgard warships and then A streak of red light flashes across the window, blinding Carson momentarily.

 

Carson keeps piloting towards the bay of the Asgard ship, "What's happening down there?"

 

"Planet's still there." Dave tells him. "But we don't have long before it reaches the core."

 

"I'm going as fast as I can, now aren't I?" Carson pants nervously.

 

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Rodney stops shooting. Is he hallucinating again? There was a flash of white... Now two of those scary red suited Asgards are lifting John up to a table, scanning him with something.

 

"Where am I?" Rodney lowers his stunner.

 

"You are being quarantined." A suited Asgard places a device over Rodney's containment suit and scans him, "You are clear of the contagion."

 

The Asgard examining John speaks though his metallic filter, "This one has synaptic damage that will need to be repaired before he can be decontaminated."

 

"Is he alive?" Rodney chokes on the words.

 

"Marginally."

 

"But he's alive!" Rodney pants with relief.

 

He pulls the gloves off his hands, unwraps his bandaged finger and sees there is no injury. It was part of the hallucination. God, the pain they cause is so real… And John hadn't died in the lava, through even he probably thought he did at the time. John was trapped. And it has taken Rodney too long to get to him.

 

Frowning at John's black and blue arm where they have removed the shunt, Rodney reaches to feel John, but the Asgard stop him, "You must not touch him until he has been treated."

 

Rodney blinks sadly at John's unconscious face. A knock on the transparent door behind him startles him. He sees Dave, Ronon, and Carson's worried expressions. He smiles wanly at them. The door opens and Rodney stumbles out toward them.

 

"You look like shit." Ronon tells him.

 

Thanks, for that." Rodney snipes, he turns to look at Dave, "John's still alive.

 

Dave's face flushes with relief as he grabs Rodney fiercely in a hug and doesn't like go.

 

He can feel Dave's shoulders shaking a little bit and he pats his back in sympathy, "I know." Rodney tells him, "I thought he was gone too."

 

Letting himself feel the emotional trauma of the last couple months, Rodney's eyes water and he lets a few tears fall with his face hidden in Dave's shoulder. The two of them stand there just holding each for a long time.

 

Finally, Dave speaks in choking voice, "Thanks for going after him."

 

"I had to." Rodney whispers.

 

"How it this even possible?” Carson asks. “We all saw him die."

 

Ronon grabs Rodney's shoulder, "You did good, Rodney, you knew somehow."

 

Rodney wants to argue. He didn't know, he was fooled too. It's stupid, he knows, he was just too heartbroken to leave, he wanted to die there with John. He'd rather sound like the brilliant hero, but maybe he'll try to explain later when he's fit for talking.

 

Ronon explains that they are traveling on an Asgard ship to the planet with the abandoned nursery of crystals. Teyla, Daniel, and Valla will be waiting for them there on the Magellan. Rodney nods in confusion and looks back to John’s damaged body in the quarantined area wondering if they are going to be able to heal him. The three of them keep him company while he watches the strange machine moving over John’s head.

 

The adrenaline that kept him going earlier fades and Rodney slumps against the transparent shield waiting and watching for some time. An Asgard arrives eventually to tell them that nursery planet has been razed and they are free to return to their ship.

 

“Not without…” Rodney’s mouth is too dry to continue talking.

 

“Not without him.” Ronon nods at John’s unconscious form in the room.

 

“Very well” The Asgard opens the door and speaks in its indistinguishable tongue with the one who is applying the treatment to John.

 

Then it returns to the waiting group, “He synapses have been repaired sufficiently to recover. You say you have a crude method of removing the entity from him.”

 

“With an electric current.” Carson interjects quickly, “we have to stop his heart.”

 

The Asgard blinks at Carson with its black expressionless eyes.

 

“And start it again.” Carson explains.

 

“Your friend may be too weak to be revived in such a manner.” It replies placidly.

 

Dave stirs, “Well, then maybe we should wait, maybe-“

 

“No,” Rodney rasps, “It’ll kill him. We have to get it out… ‘s the only way”

 

Speaking is almost too much for him now, Rodney feels himself fading. By the time Teyla is beamed aboard the Asgard ship with the medical supplies, he feels as if he about to slip into an unconscious state himself. Before putting on a protective suit, Carson rifles through one of his bags and hands Rodney a couple powerbars.

 

“Thanks.” He manages to mumble as he tears into the desperately needed nourishment. Rodney watches sadly as Carson the ragged shirt off John's body. His chest looks so frail, the ribs so prominent. Dave grips Rodney’s arm as Carson lowers the electric paddles to his heart.

 

John's thin frame jumps and spasms, then he goes deathly still. Rodney heart hurts, nothing will be right until he sees John breathing again. He closes his eyes and grimaces as he hears the monitor beeping, the respirator...

 

"Clear!" Carson hits him again, but Rodney can’t open his eyes.

 

"I've got a weak pulse... He's steady. I think we got him. Okay, let's beam him to med lab on the Magellan. He's going to need some fluids right away."

 

Opening his eyes, Rodney sees Ronon lifting John up from the table.

 

"It's okay." Dave squeezes Rodney's hand, "I think he's going to be okay now. Let's go home."

 

After beaming them back, the Asgard leave without fanfare, and no 'thanks for destroying the Wraith'. At least they seem more allies than enemies this time.

 

Back in the Magellan’s med lab as they wait for John to regain consciousness, Dave sidles a chair up, opposite Rodney, to his brother’s bedside,

 

"I'm sorry I wasn't there.” Dave’s voice shakes with emotion as he stares at his brother, “I'm here now, and I won't let you get hurt again. No more missions for you. We're going back home for good, where we belong."

 

“Ha." Rodney manages a weak smile, "No more missions? Try telling him that when he’s awake.”

 

Suddenly John is stirring and his eyes blink up at Rodney, “Telling me what?”

 

"John!" Rodney’s heart seizes, until this moment the fact that John was alive didn’t even seem real. He grabs John desperately to him, “Oh, God… you were…I knew I'd find something if I kept looking. I can't –I can’t believe you’re not dead!"

 

“Thought I died..." John’s thin arms hold him close, and he rasps in a dry voice, "I was... don't know where I was… was like a, a hell, but I knew it couldn't be real. Tried not to give them what they wanted."

 

As Rodney loosens his grip, John sees his brother, “Dave?” he croaks.

 

Dave scoots his chair closer and places a concerned hand on John shoulder "What did they want?"

 

"Fear? Pain… grief, intense..." John's looks back up to Rodney, "I saw you die so many times, so many ways... couldn't let myself believe it."

 

"Well, you're lucky he wasn't dead." Dave sounds deeply proud despite his emotional tone, "He stayed behind the whole time looking for you. If Rodney hadn't found a way to disrupt the bio-electrical net, the Asgard wouldn't have been able to beam you out."

 

"The Asgard?" John's sallow face frowns in confusion.

 

"Long story" Dave says with a chocked voice.

 

"How’d you manage to stay behind?” John asks, “I ordered you all to leave."

 

"Stole a Jumper." Rodney smiles thinly.

 

"You're lucky to have someone willing to, to take such risks to find you.” Dave glances softly at Rodney. “I'm lucky too."

 

"Thanks for not giving up me either." Rodney adds, smiling at Dave, "We wouldn't have made it without you."

 

When the others join them John submits to being hugged and fawned over by all of them; Rodney can tell John is a bit overwhelmed by it all but too weak to resist.

 

"Well, all of you… thanks. I, I feel very," John awkwardly smiles, "um, loved." 

 

"You're welcome, it was a daring rescue." Rodney quotes something John once said and hopes he gets the reference.

 

For a moment just John blinks, then tilts his head up, smiling in earnest, "Was it now?" he teases back.

 

"Much more so than breaking into Develin Medical Facilities." Rodney pulls him close to steal a kiss.

 

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When they get back to Solaris, Carson sets John up in his bedroom with a slew of medical devices and constant IV drip in his good arm.

 

Ronon applies himself to putting together a training room in the ballroom of the old house. But it will be a while before John can attempt anything like that since his muscles have wasted so much. Just walking to the bathroom is an effort and John needs Rodney’s help.

 

For the next few days, John is mostly sleeping through most of the days and nights. Rodney is just so grateful to have him alive. He curls into bed with John, holding him and hating every moment that takes away from John’s side, however momentary. He will nourish him back to life, the way John once did for him.

 

Early one evening, John wakes up in Rodney’s embrace; he wraps his long emaciated arms around Rodney's neck, whispering, "You came back for me."

 

"Of course I did... and I always will..." Not failing to appreciate the line from the movie Solaris, Rodney kisses him sweetly, "I love you."

 

"I love you too, Mere." John blinks up at Rodney, looking emotional. Then he rests his weary head back into Rodney's embrace, fading back into sleep.

 

Rodney happily dedicates himself to helping John get his strength back, tending to him, feeding him, getting him up and walking around the grounds. John still looks spindly but the lazy half smile, but the amused smirk has found its way back to his face.

 

And before long he is laughing again, thank God. All the toys and games in the tree house come in handy to keep them occupied. Evenings they spend a lot of time looking for stars through the telescope and watching movies together. They even take a romantic night to celebrate the belated passing of their 1-year wedding anniversary with a small cake.

 

Not that Rodney is only one eager to keep John entertained. Surrounded by their friends and family, John barely gets a moment to himself. Rodney is appreciative once he goes back to work that John remains has so many people he can trust to look after him. And when Rodney returns, he knows by the look in John's eyes that he has missed Rodney terribly, even he has only been gone a short while. The love in John's eyes tells him he can't wait until it is just the two of them again, curled up into each other.

 

Before long, Rodney notices that his bedtime wrestling matches with John have started to become challenging again for him; he clasps his hand around John's growing bicep. "You're starting to get pretty strong, now that you’re eating more than that blue gruel."

 

John laughs and pins Rodney down, "And you're basing this on what?"

 

"Ow, ow. Let go... That hurts." Rodney laughs "Well, I think you could go a few sparring rounds the ring. Just saying it might be a good challenge for you."

 

"Are you trying to goad me?" John pulls Rodney back into him, "Because I refuse to be goaded. I'm not quite ready for a match with Ronon."

 

"Not Ronon. Me. ...Unless, of course, you're afraid."

 

"Of what?"

 

"Me."

 

John laughs heartily, "We'll see."

 

The next couple weeks, not a day goes by without John and Rodney sparring in the training room Ronon has set up. For Rodney it is great fun. He and John have never been so evenly matched. John isn't so strong that he can overpower Rodney easily, but he throws a lot of expected moves at him. Moves that Rodney has been incorporating into his own fighting style with John. The score seems to stay about neck to neck, with both of them thoroughly whumped by the end of the night. And when John finally starts sparring with Ronon again, Rodney knows it won't be long before he is back to his old self.

 

A few days before Christmas, Rodney finds himself on his laptop, browsing online and speculating on the next mission the IOA wants him to undertake -testing the PUD drive for the first time to search out ZPM's in other dimensions. They are getting desperate about how much power is being drained by maintaining the cloak indefinitely. The military demands that they have backups to power the chair, should it be needed to defend Earth.

 

It will be a trial run, the IOA had wanted to use the power from the drive to send Rodney and Zelenka through while keeping the ship itself behind in this reality -since they know most about the technology and may be able to fix any unforeseen problems that arise. But John had insisted on joining the away mission Rodney and Woolsy had agreed since he was about to return to active duty. Besides Rodney had argued, if anything goes wrong, having Zelenka back in this reality will be better than nothing.

 

Rodney has already selected a location, the source of the signal that they intercepted from the inter-dimensional rift. There is a good chance the people on that Earth have been fighting the Wraith successfully and have access to technology. Besides they kind of owe them one after sending Earth's coordinates to _their_ Pegasus galaxy... Just so long as nothing goes wrong with using the drive this way. No, it’ll be fine. If anything he’s more worried about the locator beacon signaling correctly for a the return ride.

 

But the mission is weeks away and Rodney tries to put work from his mind. He has plenty of time still to obsess over the details. He clicks a link on his computer related to DADT, something he likes to stay informed on.

 

His breath suddenly catches. Is it true? Could this possibly happen? It says the president has signed the bill in law... Don't Ask Don't Tell will be ending... It can't be. They will find some way to keep it from...

 

Staring at the screen, his mouth hangs open. He reads accounts of the ceremony, the statements made... It says the repeal is supposed to happen in 60 days, but is subject to the discretion of the Department of Defense.

 

It’s political posturing nothing more. Rodney heart sinks. John is right; those military guys will never let this happen.

 

He hears John getting out of the shower, looking flushed from his workout with Ronon. Rodney turns and catches an eyeful of him standing in the main room with a towel around his waist. Now Rodney is the one flushing, John looks good, so strong and healthy... gloriously handsome.

 

John walks into the office and wraps his arms around the front of Rodney's chair, "What are working on, Mere?"

 

"You seen this? It says DADT is being repealed."

 

"Scroll up," John leans in over Rodney's shoulder, "let me see what it says from the beginning."

 

"I mean, it's the law now... So, it's matter of time, right?" Rodney skims the article again trying to decide if he should let himself get his hopes up.

 

"I don't know. I'm sorry, Mere." John kisses Rodney's shoulder and sighs, “Politicians say all kinds of things..."

 

"Yeah, it doesn't matter, really. I was just curious."

 

"Mere." John spins the chair around and gives him a penetrating look. He runs his hands down the sides of Rodney's face, "Whatever they say, I know what's real. I know that I'm yours and you're mine and no law can change that. You come before anything else in this world. I probably would have resigned already, just, I like working with you."

 

"Yeah but-"

 

John kisses Rodney's lips, silencing his words. He takes Rodney's arms, lifting them up and draping them around his neck, "Hold on."

 

As John slides an arm under Rodney's legs, he tightens his grip around John's neck. Then John lifts him up. With a little effort he carries Rodney to the bedroom and lies him down.

 

Since John was rescued from the Tempest planet, their lovemaking has been more gentle, with Rodney generally taking the lead. Sometimes he lowers himself down on John's cock and rides him, other nights he holds John, fucking him while spooning him from the side.

 

He hasn't wanted to undertake anything too physically taxing, but tonight John has a certain look in his eye. Like he wants to fuck Rodney, wants to be physical and take him passionately, and nothing will stop him.

 

As John strips him down, Rodney is feverish with desire, he wants nothing more right now than to be used by John. And that is exactly what John does, he toys with Rodney pumping into him tirelessly, and making him lose his mind completely. It is late when they finally both lay tanged in each other, sweaty, shaky, and panting.

 

Oh God... it's been a while since they fucked like that. No one can do the things John can to him...

 

When they are capable of moving again, they take a cool shower together. Rodney murmurs incomplete sentence, endearments in John's ear and kisses him deeply. John is able to be a bit more profound and meaningful in his professions of love.

 

When they climb back under the covers, they fold into each other, into that perfect fit they've always had. They trail their fingertips over each other, talk and dream of the other worlds they might find in these parallel dimensions.

 

Rodney ghosts his fingers along John's jawline, "I wonder if we meet ourselves, what they'll be like? Would we still be close? Friends or-"

 

John stops him with a kiss and leans back to catch his eye in the moonlight, "Mere, no matter where or who we are, you've always been my destination."  
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End file.
